A number of system architectures exist to provide information and services to users over a communications network. For example, a multi-user HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”) web page can allow large numbers of users to access information placed on the web page. Many multi-user web pages also facilitate the provision of services such as displaying advertisements for merchants, allowing consumers to complete purchase transactions, etc. If the web page is employed by users as a portal to access personal financial information, such as account information, each user may be required to log on by providing a username and password. The user may then receive his/her account information. Some multi-user web pages also allow a user to create a personal profile page. The user may provide personal preferences and other information, and the profile page is maintained based on the personal information provided.
Other architectures are available for providing information and services to users. For example, a personal HTML web page allows the owner of the web page to post personal information, photos, diary entries, etc. If the personal web page is maintained on a network, such as the Internet, other users on the network may view the web page by entering the web page's URL on a network browser. In another example, a File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”) site typically comprises a static directory structure. Files may be stored in or retrieved from sub-directories in the directory structure.
However, existing systems such as those described above do not provide advanced data processing or data management capabilities to users. In addition, existing systems do not offer to a user a dedicated block of storage for storing and managing data for that user.
An additional challenge associated with many data management systems is error detection and error handling. Decision trees, which direct a system to follow a pre-defined set of actions in a pre-defined order in an attempt to respond to an error, are used in many systems to manage errors that may occur. This approach often fails to provide the flexibility needed in a complex data management system.